Ok a few months ago I blew a head gasket so to nurse the truck home I pulled the thermostat. Well when I put it back together I never put in another thermostat (forgot about it) the truck has never run right since the blown gasket ie surges, lack of power, rough idle, bad mpg, Well it threw the p01228 cold to long . I guess my question is will no therm make a truck run like crap? Yes plenum has been fixed with a hughs plate and cat gutted


Sorry so long winded thanks for the help
2001 dodge ram 5.2

 

Having no thermostat should only affect how it runs during cold starts. When the engine is up to running temp it should run normally. Sounds to me the head gasket issue is causing the rough running. If you don't want to replace the head gasket, throw in 2 tubes of Alumaseal. It is a band aid, but sometimes it'll reseal a HG for years. My dad had a GMC truck with a 350 BCIV Cummins that blew the head gasket. He put 5 tubes in the radiator and within 24 hours the truck was running normal and not overheating and running rough. He drove that truck for 2 years and over 200k miles more without a problem. I have repaired a head gasket with Alumaseal on a Jeep Wagoneer with a 401 V8. Now it started acting up again about 10k miles later, but I could afford to work on it by then. It isn't a cure-all, but it can greatly extend the time before a head job is needed.

 

GM actually buys stopleak from bars (in a different oem formula and used in a small dose of course) to seal all its systems when they roll off the assy line..

 

Ive already done the headgasket its run like this since i know it doesnt get over 150ish degree when its warm

 

Mine didn't run like crap but it definitely will make it run rich and idle faster. Get a 195 stat and throw in there unless you're going to get a tuner.

 

Im fixing to get with hemifever in a week or so.plus I have new heads on the way.maybe its just a bad head

 

BTW Augiedoggy that is one good looking dodge

 

It might run like crap with no T-Stat. The ECT is not seeing the correct temp, so I would expect nothing less from the PCM than to tell you something is not right.

 

not having a t-stat will not cause an engine to miss and sputter. it only causes the engine to over-cool and hang about 130 degrees instead of coming up to 195. the pcm will read the engine temp and adjust idle and fuel accordingly. the only problems with running at 130 are poor mpg and no heat and CEL code. if you think about it, your truck experiences temps from 30* to 130* every day in its warmup cycle, so this is not the problem.

your poor running condition is something else. check compression...

 

OK, so let's put a T-Stat in and go from there. No diagnosing can be done until that is corrected.